Wasn't the clearly Irish Catholic Archie, played by Carroll O'Connor in All In The Family, supposedly a Protestant? I remember him making cracks about Catholics more than once, the point being to show us what an all inclusive bigot he was.

Things get very mixed up with media people. Yesterday O'Donnell didn't know about the First Amendment baring Congress making laws respecting the establishment of religion. Apparently anything can be true in media world.

I would invite the 1st Amendment experts in this thread go back and review both the video and the transcript of that exchange. As a wise, sword-wielding Spaniard once said, "I do not think it means what you think it means."

I'm not sure how Catholic a Catholic Homer can be if he prays to Jebus.

I would invite the 1st Amendment experts in this thread go back and review both the video and the transcript of that exchange. As a wise, sword-wielding Spaniard once said, "I do not think it means what you think it means."

There were established churches and religious tests for office in this country well into the 19th century.

In 1791 there were amendments to the Constitution, proposed along with the Bill of Rights, which would have prevented state governments from establishing churches, but these were rejected by Congress.

The history of the separation of church and state is not as simple as some of us might like it to be.

O'Donnell is wrong to think that the Constitution, as understood now, allows public school districts to teach creationism to kids, or creationism's closeted twin, intelligent design. But she is right that the First Amendment as written was not understood to forbid it until the last fifty years or so.

She's hung up on the talking point re 'separation.' But, Coons is never saying that those particular words are in the Constitution. And, she's completely dumbfounded when he's talking about the first amendment, but not the 'separation' phrase. Listen to 7:07 in my earlier link.

BTW, Malkin has a link indicating that Coons was stumped later on re all of the protections of the first amendment. Of course he just chose to not answer, so it's possible that he could have thought of a few of them.

After all of this, what can we conclude w/ certainty? If you take her at her word, it seems like O'Donnell interprets the constitution in a way that would allow public schools to teach the story of a Christian God creating the world in science classes instead of evolution. Is that your understanding? Do you believe that a correct interpretation of the Constitution would permit this? Do you want O'Donnell and others supporting judges/justices who would agree w/ this interpretation?

Yes the phrase separation of church and state is generally traced to a letter by Thomas Jefferson, and I could almost believe this is what O'Donnell was questioning except she did't know what the 14th was about-- As I said before she is a media person who can make up things, or be anything she imagines.